


Beyond

by autumnsolstice9



Series: Justice [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 18:00:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16413218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnsolstice9/pseuds/autumnsolstice9
Summary: “No,” he repeats, “Hinata wouldn’t abandon Konoha.”“The Hyuuga are more similar to the Uchiha than you think,” her clone says.Or: Hinata grows past her fear





	Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think this can be understood as a stand alone. I would recommend reading all the stories (but that's because I enjoyed writing them and hope u will enjoy reading them) but you really only need to read "Remembrance" to understand

She wakes up to a kunai at her throat.

Sasuke stands above her, his grip on the weapon appearing lazy, but Hinata knows better. She knows what the Uchiha traitor is capable of. 

“What brings a Konoha missing-nin here?” he snaps out, and she has the sudden realization that he doesn’t recognize her. They were never close in Konoha and she’s certain he didn’t concern himself with weak little Hinata enough to even know her name.

Besides, the defining features of a Hyuuga are their eyes. Hinata isn’t naive and she knows what people would do to get their hands on a Hyuuga, especially one unmarked, so she snuck into a civilian village and bought some colored contacts, red like Kurenai’s familiar eyes, and wore them religiously. Sasuke, who likely didn’t know her name, won’t be able to tell her heritage.

The kunai digs into her skin, and she’s so grateful she thought of hiding her eyes because she knows that she cannot beat Sasuke in a fight and this will at least give her the element of surprise before she activates her byakugan. Right now, she can’t be Hinata. She needs to be the warrior she is.

“The same as you, Uchiha,” she says, her face not betraying her fear, “I am escaping the village.”

The kunai doesn’t leave her throat. “Why would a Yuuhi leave the village?” he grumbles, and Hinata is slightly amazed he remembers the red eyes associated with her sensei’s clan that she dons. She’s thankful for the darkness that reaches into the cave, making her hair seem more black than blue, and despite her heart thrumming in her chest she wonders whether she really does look like she could be her sensei’s family.

Sasuke is clearly thrown aback from where he stands above her. Despite being known for his unreadable expression, Hinata has always been good at reading people. The byakugan doesn’t let her miss anything, so she sees his eyes twitch and the way his face is tenser than when their encounter began.

He’s taken by surprise, albeit slightly, and Hinata knows this is the moment she has to take action.

A clone steps out of the shadows of the cave, as if it had been lurking there all along. “What makes you think I’m a Yuuhi?” it teases. She’s thankful for the time she spent emulating Naruto’s shadow clone jutsu when she sees Sasuke becomes rigid.

Her clone is the same as her in every way except for the eyes, which are Uchiha black.

“Impossible,” Sasuke mutters, and she takes the time to add more punch to her act, letting a three-tomoe sharingan take place of the inky eyes, “All the Uchiha are dead.”

He reaches down to her again with the kunai, and she places her hands on his chest, feigning trying to stop him. 

Another clone steps out of the shadows. “Who says I am Uchiha?” this one boasts, red Inuzuka tattoos screaming it’s allegiance to the world.

“Or Inuzuka?” another one mutters, covered head to toe and wearing sunglasses like Shino’s. She knows she can’t keep making many more clones, but they’re not fighting, so her chakra isn’t as low as it should be with three shadow clones.

She adds in one last clone. “Who says I’m not someone you know?” this one says, quiet and meek, and Sasuke falters, if only slightly.

“No,” he growls out, “Hinata wouldn’t leave the village.”

His grip on the kunai loosens, and Hinata is interested in his reaction to this clone, who is a perfect replica of herself, save for the longer hair and the unhidden eyes.

The Aburame, Inuzuka, and Uchiha clones pop away, and Hinata nearly sighs when she feels her chakra levels rise from it. “Do you know what I would do?” the Hinata clone questions, voice soft and lilting at the end, “Why would I leave the village?”

Sasuke glances down at the real Hinata, who still has her hands on his chest. “Hinata?” he breathes out, looking down at her, a silent question in his eyes.

“I saw you coming a mile away,” her clone answers. “I wouldn’t leave myself unprotected, and you fell into my trap, going after a clone.”

His grip on the kunai loosens even more, and Hinata is amazed that he believes her clone’s lies, that he really thinks the Hinata beneath him is just some illusion.

She doesn’t move her hands from his chest.

“No,” he repeats, “Hinata wouldn’t abandon Konoha.”

“The Hyuuga are more similar to the Uchiha than you think,” her clone says.

She feels the way a slight shiver runs through his body as he takes in her words. “Drop the illusion, Hinata,” he growls out. This is her chance to escape and she knows it.

“As you wish,” her clone says, all fake politeness, and she feels her chakra levels drop as she alters the clone to what all Uchiha and Hyuuga fear.

“No,” Sasuke mutters, before he grows in volume, “No, no, that can’t be possible.”

The real Hinata takes the opportunity, fueling as much chakra as she can confidently use into her hands on his chest, activating her byakugan and quickly tapping away at his tenketsu points.

He tries to stop her, but her clone moves fast and grabs him as Hinata hits him repeatedly until she is confident he won’t be able to move for hours.

She feels weak from chakra depletion, but she stands up and takes a second to admire her work. Sasuke stares up at her and her clone from the ground, and she takes small pleasure in the way his eyes flicker between the two of them, a bit of fear evident in his gaze.

Her clone stands guard, eye sockets empty and bleeding, as she runs out of the cave, and even she can’t help but shudder a bit at her illusion. Every Uchiha and Hyuuga grows up fearing their eyes being taken away. When she reaches the mouth of the cave, she dispels the clone, and continues to run as far away from Sasuke as she can get, fearing his vengeance when he soon regains mobility.

She can hear his scream echo inside the cave.

Hinata does not stop running until she reaches a new civilian village and buys new colored contacts.

***

Ever since she was kidnapped as a child, she has had nightmares of people stealing her eyes. She has heard the stories of Shisui and wonders if Sasuke does, too. 

***

Hinata knows she isn’t the strongest, but she also knows she is growing stronger. She adds more lightning to her attacks, more fire, more chakra.

It doesn’t stop a missing-nin she runs into from swiping their sword at her face, or her scream as the blade slices down her brow and into her wrist where she threw up an arm to protect her eyes. 

The Mist missing-nin smiles with too-sharp teeth like every other Mist nin she has met, eyeing the veins around her face. “A byakugan? I wonder what I could do with that.”

Blood is pouring out of her wound, and she tries to remember everything Kurenai taught her as the nin reaches forward towards her face. Her mind is blank and her body aches, but she can’t let him get her eyes.

His hand is still reaching forward, and Hinata doesn’t think, just acts. Her hand darts forward, fast as a snake, and her fingertips are filled with a burning power.

Lightning sparks in her hand as she presses it against the nin’s chest, and when they slump forward she bites their neck and rips out a chunk of skin. Coppery blood fills her mouth, but if there is one thing she knows from the world, it is kill or be killed.

The nin gurgles beneath her, but she cannot stop. She feels lightheaded from blood loss, but she refuses to lose in this or any other fight. Her chakra levels are low, and she knows she needs to either kill the nin or run away now.

She snaps his neck in her hands and runs, collapsing against a tree hidden in shadows. Her arm is throbbing, and she has no supplies on her, so she uses the last of the chakra she has left and lets lightning spark in her hand as it cauterizes the wound.

She misses Kiba and Shino. She misses Kurenai. She misses Sakura and Naruto.

She misses Hanabi and Neji.

Hinata wants to move to a less vulnerable position, but her eyes close against her will. She’s not sure when she will wake, but Hinata has always lived a life full of uncertainties.

Sleep takes her away.

***

Hinata has always had vivid dreams. She told her father about them, once, when she was very little. He had cast them aside, told her to stop being so ridiculous, but her dreams always stuck with her.

She told Kurenai about them, and her sensei had made her tea while they spent the day talking about dreams and nightmares. “You’re perceptive, Hinata, you see what others cannot.”

“Yes,” she had murmured, “the byakugan is powerful.”

“No, not the byakugan,” Kurenai told her, taking her hands, “you are. Hinata is powerful. Not the Hyuuga, or the byakugan. You are.”

When Hinata wakes, the memory of that moment is fresh on her mind. In her next fight, she doesn’t activate her byakugan and focuses on the lightning and fire that rages inside her body. If they cannot see the veins on her face, there is no indication that she possesses the byakugan for them to want to steal her eyes, but contacts don’t last forever and she can’t keep buying new ones. Once she runs out, the nin she fights always reach for her eyes when she falters, but her fiery breath stops any that get too close. 

She still keeps her byakugan inactive.

She is Hinata, and she will grow to be stronger than her clan.

***

At some point she runs into Kakashi, and fear grips her so suddenly she nearly stops breathing. She is stronger than she has ever been, but Kakashi is kage level.

She’s a missing-nin, one who doesn’t have the benefit of being his former student. He will kill her.

The copynin approaches her, feet quick, and Hinata knows she will fight even the great Kakashi Hatake if it means she will be free to return to Konoha and demolish the Hyuuga system. She activates her byakugan for the first time in what feels like ages.

He is close enough to touch now. “Hinata-” he begins, but she moves forward to tap his chakra points. 

His hand closes around her wrist, and she is terrified. Lightning shoots out from around her wrist, a natural defense, and in his moment of surprise she runs. He chases after her, and she knows he will catch up.

She tricked Sasuke once, surely she can trick Kakashi?

The thought is short lived when he appears suddenly next to her, grabbing her wrists behind her back. “If you’re going to kill me, promise me you’ll destroy my eyes afterwards,” she tells him. “I may be missing-nin but I deserve that at least, please. Don’t let anyone take my eyes.”

Kakashi stares at her before letting go of her. “Maa, Hinata, I’m not going to kill you.”

Relief floods her system. “You’re not?”

“No, no, I just happened to run into you and thought I would see how Konoha’s favorite missing-nin is doing.” His one visible eye scans her body, taking in the jagged scar along her arm and the bruises. “Not terribly, but not well enough for Kurenai to be happy.”

His stare is focused on her brow now and the scar that runs from her forehead to her eyelid. “Have a lot of nin been trying to steal your eyes?’

She gulps. “Almost all the nin I run into.” She glances around the forest, byakugan searching to see if anyone else is nearby. “I am not sealed. If I die, my eyes are still there to be taken.”

Kakashi’s gaze shifts to her eyes now. “I thought you were against the seal?”

“The seal is wrong,” she says, sharply. In her time away from Konoha, she has grown more confident. It’s easy to do so when no one cares who she is and vice versa. “The seal isn’t for protecting our eyes, it’s for power. If it was about protection, everyone would have it and it wouldn’t be a curse.”

“So what will you do to protect the byakugan?”

Lightning crackles in her palm. “I will grow.”

Kakashi smiles beneath the mask and ruffles her hair, reminding her of Kurenai. “Well, my mission wasn’t supposed to end until a week later. What do you say, Hinata?”

Chidori crackles in his hand and her breath catches in her throat.

“Yes,” she says, “teach me, please.”

She knows that the seal must be abolished. She begins practicing with Kakashi and prepares for the day she returns to Konoha and teaches her clan how to be other than Hyuuga, more than just their eyes.

The byakugan can be protected with fists and fury.

Chidori screams in her hand.

**Author's Note:**

> hinata should learn chidori she has such amazing chakra control like... theres no reason why she cant learn it


End file.
